


citrus smoke

by toziebrak



Category: One Piece
Genre: tags are indefinite, they'll growth with more that i write
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-01-10
Updated: 2019-01-14
Packaged: 2019-10-07 23:44:41
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 3
Words: 2,108
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17375435
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/toziebrak/pseuds/toziebrak
Summary: hi this is just for me to keep track of my daily writings. i hope to write a minimum of 100-200 words a day. maybe i'll tag this later, maybe i won't, but it's mainly going to be fanfiction from my favorite animes with maybe some original stuff in between. these are all unedited and unless i plan on expanding on them, will remain unedited.





	1. tangerines.

            Nami sees the world through a field of tangerine trees. The thick branches are decidedly her home, giving her the only protection, she's ever needed. It was Bellemere, who wasn't her biological mother but her mother nonetheless, that gave life to the garden of tangerines, but more importantly, gave life to Nami. She was only a baby when Nojiko, her sister, found her in the travesty torn streets and also found Bellemere, who from that day, raised the two girls as if they were her own. To her mother, it was nothing less than ironic when Nami grew into a strong and independent girl whose hair matches that of the fruit she harvested. Nami, strong as roots, winding through the ground and holding all the weight from trees on its back. Her skull, thick like trunks, unbreakable and stubborn to anything that slammed against it. But it was Nami's heart that reflected the tangerines, sweet with the tiniest hint of tangy citrus on your tongue. Each day, Nami would help Bellemere in the field and each day Bellemere would compare her being to the trees, making the young girl break out into a heartwarming grin. Nami's mother loved her as much as she loved her tangerines, promising to nurture her and guide her through her growth until the end of time.

            The end of time comes too fast for Nami's liking. She's only a girl when Bellemere sacrifices herself and is shot in the head in front of her own eyes, the gun held by the man that would overpower her town. From that day Nami made a promise to herself and to her home that she would save them from the demon that destroyed all they had. But it wasn't solely for them, no, Nami would avenge her mother. She wouldn't let Bellemere's death go down to waste. She would carry this weight on her shoulders like the roots of her tangerine trees and fix the damage that had been done.

            Years later, at eighteen, Nami's world crashes down again. Having spent years working under Arlong, creating maps and thieving from various people to gain money to buy out her town, it's a shock to her when her boss goes behind her back. The navy had been tipped off by Arlong, who told them of her stolen treasure and they head to her house before Nami has any idea of what was going on.

            When a random officer yells out about searching through the field of tangerines, Nami loses it. She attacks anybody that moves even a footstep towards her trees, preventing them from getting anywhere close to them. Even though she's held the weight of Cocoyashi's tragedy for years, Nami isn't strong enough to hold off trained soldiers and it's not long before she's pushed to the ground and the navy begins to ravage her fields. She screams out, begging for them to stop but her words fall on deaf ears. Her treasure is found easily and she's in danger, but Nami could care less about being arrested. The tangerine field was in shambles, making one of the final remnants of her mother destroyed. Nami's single safe place in the world was wrecked, it was the one place she truly knew and suddenly it was gone. Sure, as a thief and cartographer for the Arlong Pirates, Nami knew a countless number of places like the back of her hand, their geography engraved in the forefront of her mind, but they were never home. Home was the green leaves and luscious tangerines. Home was with Bellemere and Nojiko, or at least now Nojiko. Nami's home had been shattered years ago, but now there was nothing left. Her mother was dead, and her tangerines were destroyed and all Nami could do was sit in the street of her town, sobbing and digging a knife into the tattoo that branded her traitor.

            She never expected to leave Cocoyashi. Not now, not ever. But at this point, it seems like she has nowhere else to go. A kid that she didn't expect to ever see again freed her of her burdens and tore apart the place and people that kept her captive. She suspects that home could grow to have a different meaning. Home could be the ship that would drag her across seas, to the Grand Line and possibly further. Home could be the crewmembers that treat her the complete opposite of how Arlong and his men treated her. Home could be new and scary and so many different things.

            Truthfully, Nami isn't quite sure if she wants a new home. She doesn't know if she's ready to leave Cocoyashi when she could rebuild her mother's farm and see the city grow back to greatness. But when putting three tangerine trees on the ship is brought up, Nami sees a spark of hope. Hope that's glittering orange and sunshine with hints of her mother's smile. With the ghost of Bellemere pushing her into a crew of strangers, Nami can't help but think that yeah, maybe this, the ship and the Strawhats, could be her new home.


	2. snow.

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> this one is so short and kind of hints at sanami angst that i started but wtvr

            Sometimes Nami forgets that it snows out at sea or that it even snows at all. Cocoyashi was never graced with the chilling white flakes, her hometown always in a constant state of spring or summer, maybe fall if they were lucky some years. In fact, the first time she had seen snow was in Drum when Chopper joined the crew. Truthfully, Nami hates the snow. The flakes are far too cold for her liking and she despises how it feels melted into her hair and skin. Snow reminds her of the ash flying from the pistol that brought her mother's death. Flakes of a different color, but flakes of despair nonetheless. She hates it. She hates the cold, hates how it makes her feel out of place, like a stranger in the world she knows so well. Freezing temperatures only bite at her heart and remind her of the loneliness she refuses to touch on. It leaves her longing to go home, to run into her sister's embrace and live in the summer of her city. Heat is her childhood, running through fields of tangerines under the beating afternoon sun. Nami is used to the heat, accustomed to buzzing warmth the encased her like a familiar hug, unlike the chilling iciness of a lonely winter.

            Nami understands the concept of snow. Being an expert on weather, she has to know how it's created and why it falls from the sky. She can recite the process of water vapor freezing in the air, icicles forming and eventually descending from the clouds in millions of flurries, like a textbook but there are still times where the feather-light flakes are a surprise to her. Like when she's standing on the far side of the deck, leaning over the rails of the ship while her crewmembers are inside, drinking and eating and celebrating a certain person's return.


	3. secrecy.

            “She seemed to be really in love with you, Sanji-kun.” Nami’s voice was purely teasing, amber eyes glittering playfully. The air around them was light, adding to the lighthearted conversation. It had been Nami’s night to keep watch and Sanji had just finished cleaning the kitchen for the evening, leaving only the two of them on the midnight covered deck. “It’s actually kind of shocking that you _didn’t_ get married, being a so-called ‘ladies’ man’ and all.”

            Beside her, Sanji rolled his eyes and nudged her elbow with his, her teasing leaving a hint of distaste on the tip of his tongue. He never intended to marry Pudding. He had cared about her to an extent and wanted to free her from Big Mom’s clutches, but it didn’t go any further than that for him. And sure, Sanji _was_ a ladies’ man. He flirted with any woman in his line of sight, but it was all harmless. It was rare for him to actually harbor feelings for another woman outside of complimenting her looks. He’d been sailing the seas for years now and he’d seen hundreds, maybe even thousands, of women during his travels, but they all ended up lacking _something_. Something that only one woman in the entire world had.

            Nobody would compare to Nami and Sanji knew that. The girl standing to his right held more power over than him than she was probably aware of. Anything Nami asked for, Sanji would provide, no matter the measures he’d have to take to get it to her. He was never good with confront emotions, though, and opted for flirting with her as he did every other woman to mask his true feelings. She took it all for a joke, anyway. Every time Sanji would attempt to flirt with Nami, she’d slap him away without a second thought and leave his heart twitching with untouched pain, but it was better this way.

            There were definitely times when Sanji was unable to hide his feelings and it was always when Nami was in danger. Hidden emotions would rip out of his heart and pump through the blood in his veins, making him lash out and protect her from oncoming threats. Usopp had mentioned it once, in Skypeia, when he asked Sanji if he was _really_ going to sacrifice himself to Eneru for Nami’s sake. Sanji responded jokingly, telling Usopp that it was him who’d be the sacrifice, even though his heart held no doubts of dying for the tangerine haired girl. Of course, he’d die for her. Sanji would give up everything for Nami’s safety, especially himself.

            “I only acted like I was going to marry her to protect you guys,” Sanji replied earnestly, glancing over at Nami with a serious look in his eyes. He never wanted to leave the crew but was forced to in order to keep them safe.

            “Sure, you did,” Nami poked back, drawing out the ‘sure’ to make it seem as if she didn’t believe him. She noticed his change of tone but couldn’t drop the playfulness of her own.

            Nami had to keep teasing him, it was her way of coping. When Sanji left, she had been filled with inexperienced and unfiltered rage. She had cried out for him, screamed till her throat burned dryly with frustration. She had cried tears, too, after his fight with Luffy and when he returned to the ship safely. The entire situation hurt Nami, made her feel things that she couldn’t quite understand. She had all the right to be upset with him leaving the crew and hurting their captain, but there was something itching the back of her mind about the romance that left her unsettled. A stupid marriage shouldn’t affect her in that way, so she balled up those… strange feelings and threw them into the boiling pot of anger towards his departure. At least that way it’d make sense, that way she’d be able to keep joking about it until it didn’t cross her mind at all.

            Hurt flashed across Sanji’s face. Nami wasn’t taking him seriously, still believing that he had done everything willingly, despite him being deadly honest. Everybody else in the crew believed him the second he rejoined, but Nami was a different case. She had been stone cold, telling him that she’d never forgive him and that she’d work him relentlessly to make up for his actions. Sanji knew that he deserved to be treated in that way, he knew all too well that he had hurt Nami and she had the right to treat him so harshly, even if it ached his heart. He wanted nothing more than to make up with her and go back to how it used to be, hopeless flirting that he hoped would one day develop.

            “I didn’t want to marry her in the first place,” he said, voice firm in the truth he knew.

            Nami laughed at that, the little giggle she only kept for things she found unbelievable escaping from her lips. “You don’t have to lie to me, Sanji. We all know you’d marry any gorgeous girl in a second.”

 _I’d never lie to you_ , Sanji thought. His head dropped slightly, gaze leaving Nami and falling to the gentle waves below their ship. _I just can’t tell you the entire truth._

            If feelings were easy and if Sanji knew how to speak his heart without sounding like a complete idiot, he’d tell Nami to her face that the only woman he’d ever actually be with, was her. But feelings were difficult and Sanji’s heart was better off locked up in secrecy. 


End file.
